British movies made in 1967, cut and banned before the November 1971 liberalisation of the Australian censorship system.
Poor Cow
Directed by Ken Loach / 1967 / UK / IMDb
The original theatrical release was censored for a ‘Suitable only for Adults’ rating.
The distributor was BEF Film Distributors Australia.
Censored footage
Shane Harrison reports.
Three cuts were made for the ‘Suitable only for Adults’ rating.
Censored at 00:59 by 00:12 – The opening shows Joy (Carol White) giving birth before it moves to the credits. Our theatrical version began the same, but a cut removed the birth footage. The censorship was so seamless that it did not become apparent until I viewed the uncut version on video.
Censored at 68:22 by 01:00 – Semi-nude discrete sex scene taking place in the countryside.
Censored at 86:22 by 0:1:44 – Joy discusses a girlie calendar hanging on the wall with a creepy shop assistant. They flick through the various months as he states that in Germany such pictures are illegal. He explains that their law allows for complete but not partial exposure of a topless woman.
The sequence where Joy poses for a private camera club was left untouched by the censor. It is a sleazy scene, with the men commenting that some did not bother putting film in their cameras. In Australia, this sequence was used for theatrical and TV promotion. The aim was to sell it as a sexy movie, which was far from the case.
In the 1970s, Channel Nine’s Midnight-to-Dawn screenings were of the censored theatrical version
Ulysses
Directed by Joseph Strick / 1967 / UK – USA / IMDb
Originally banned by the Film Censorship Board when initially submitted.
Shane Harrison reports.
The sexual content in ULYSSES was verbal only, with some graphic references during Molly Bloom’s (Barbara Jefford) famous soliloquy. It included the first use of the word ‘fuck’ in a mainstream film.
Post-November 1971 rating
The Board began awarding the R-rating in October 1971. However, they were not officially issued until the new system became operative on 15 November 1971. A 11779-feet (130:52) print of ULYSSES was included in the first batch awarded the new classification.
BEF Film Distributors was the applicant. It played theatrically in Australia three years after the UK and USA.
In January 1991, Home Cinema Group submitted a 125-minute VHS and received an M (Sexual allusions) rating.